The Ibovespa narrowed its weekly decline to 0.2%. It was the second straight week of losses.

Asia's week ahead: Japan's GDP

(1:57)

Focus shifts to Japan as three of its large banks are set to report earnings, and fourth-quarter figures for economic growth are due as well. Japan's central bank has a policy decision due too. Rex Crum reports.

Shares of interest-rate sensitive finance and real estate companies also gained after a government report showed there was a slowdown in Brazilian consumer prices in October from September, as well as from a year ago. The country’s central bank has recently slashed the key interest rate to 11.5% in part to pull down the benchmark IPCA inflation rate that’s already surpassed the upper limit of the bank’s target.

The IBGE statistics agency said consumer prices in Brazil rose 0.43% in October from September. Inflation on a 12-month basis slipped to 6.97% from 7.13% logged in September. The central bank’s inflation target is 4.5%, plus or minus two percentage points.

“Base effects should continue to pull down the year-on-year comparison, which however will still remain significantly above the 4.5% target center,” Gustavo Arruda, an economist at BNP Paribas, told clients Friday. “For their part, underlying inflation trends remain unfavorable, especially in the service sector. “

Stocks in Mexico, Chile, Argentina and in the U.S. also advanced after the Italian Senate voted for austerity measures previously pledged to Italy’s euro-zone partners late last month. The move helped push down the yield on Italy’s 10-year government note (10YR_ITA) . This week, the yield rose above 7%, recalling when Greek, Irish and Portuguese bond yields had each surpassed 7%, spurring those countries to seek bailouts.

Meanwhile, Lucas Papademos, a former vice president of the European Central Bank, was sworn in as Greece’s interim prime minister of a unity government. He replaces George Papandreou as prime minister.

Mexico’s IPC (IPC) ended at a seven-month high as it gained 2.6% to 37,555.65. On Friday, the Inegi statistics agency said industrial production in Latin America’s second-largest economy surged a seasonally adjusted 1.75% in September from August. Production increased 3.6% from the same period a year ago.

Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires expected, on average, production to increase 3.1% from the same period a year ago.

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